I love journals. For most of my life I could never justify getting one. On the rare occasion that I did find myself with journal in hand I could never bring myself to write in it. After all, how could my chicken-scratch adolescent scrawlings possibly be worthy of such a pretty cover? It's something I've wrestled with for years.Part of it was the cliche, teenage girls are supposed to have secret diaries that their little brothers are always trying to steal and make fun of. I've never liked the whole typical teenager "thing." While other girls were running up huge phone bills, I would quietly leave the room whenever the phone rang. I still don't like the phone, shouldn't everyone have email by now?
But what do you write in a journal? I'm a little old now to write about how "fine" my latest crush is (not to mention married). But according to most people writers are supposed to be journalers, though a few say it's just a waste of time.
I can't help it, every time we go to the local Barnes & Nobles I have to go look at the journals. They're all so pretty. I stand there in awe for a moment before I get sucked in and have to pick up each one, admire the binding, the artwork on the cover, and flip through the blank pages inside. When I have finished fondling each and every one, except of course the ones wrapped in plastic to thwart fondlers like me, I am pulled away to the comic book section by my husband, frustrated with myself for my inability to defile a journal.
Now I finally did it, I got a journal, several actually. And I have convinced myself that my writing, however unworthy, is acceptable content for a pretty journal.
After some initial pains, the most I've written since high school is grocery lists, I have learned how to use a pen again and I am loving it! The big pink one in the blurry picture is my favorite, it now houses the first two chapters of my next project "Tully & Rourke."
My advice to any fellow journal fondlers out there is to stop fondling and buy the journal whether your writing is worthy of the pretty cover or not. Happy journaling!
2 comments:
Just found your blog from your 'Calvin & Hobbes' post on Gill's website.
I can identify with your reluctance to write in the 'pretty' journals. I've been keeping journals off and on for years, but I admit, I tend to use the 'pretty' ones for when I 'formally' record what's been going on the previous month. My favorite journals are my 'scribble' books, which are just plain spiral notebooks or composition books. I don't feel obligated to maintain any sort of standard when writing in those, and so there's more freedom to write down what I'm thinking at the moment and edit less. ;-)
Hey, thanks for commenting! Gill is a great comic, I love reading it.
I have tons of 'scribble' books too, in fact I'm sitting surrounded by a few piles of papers, scribble books, journals, and sketch books right now. =-)
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